"Bouzouki The bouzouki (; also ""buzuki""; , ; plural ""bouzoukia"" ) is a musical instrument popular in Greece that was brought there in the 1900s by Greek immigrants from Turkey, and quickly became the central instrument to the rebetiko genre and its music branches. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the bouzouki has a flat front, usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but pitched lower. There are two main types of bouzouki: the ""trichordo"" (""three-course"") has three pairs of strings (known as courses) and"
"(or slightly radiused) tops and backs. The Irish bouzouki has also become integrated into some other western European musical traditions over the past forty years. Popularly used in the music of Asturias, Galicia, Brittany, Spain, and even the Scandinavian countries (in fact, there is even now a new Nordic branch of the instrument, having been modified further to suit the unique requirements of those musics). The instrument's role is usually a combination of interwoven accompaniment (usually a mix of open-string drones, two note intervals, bass lines and countermelody) and melodic play. Instrumental arrangements by musicians such as Ale Möller from"
"the composer and the lyricist: Angelo Avramakis Angelo Avramakis (Greek: Βαγγέλης Αβραμάκης) is a Greek musician and bouzouki player. Born in Serres, Greece, he has spent most of his life in Australia. He is considered the leading bouzouki player in Australia and among the top bouzouki players in the world. Avramakis began playing drums at the age of 4. He learned the bouzouki at the age of 8 and began studies in music theory and harmony at Melba Conservatorium of Music. He also plays the guitar, keyboards, bass guitar and Greek baglama. Avramakis has performed and toured with some of"
"Angelo Avramakis Angelo Avramakis (Greek: Βαγγέλης Αβραμάκης) is a Greek musician and bouzouki player. Born in Serres, Greece, he has spent most of his life in Australia. He is considered the leading bouzouki player in Australia and among the top bouzouki players in the world. Avramakis began playing drums at the age of 4. He learned the bouzouki at the age of 8 and began studies in music theory and harmony at Melba Conservatorium of Music. He also plays the guitar, keyboards, bass guitar and Greek baglama. Avramakis has performed and toured with some of Greece's well known artists: Vaso"
"style, employing instruments of the Ottoman tradition. During the second half of the 1930s, as rebetiko music gradually acquired its own character, the bouzouki began to emerge as the emblematic instrument of this music, gradually ousting the instruments which had been brought over from Asia Minor. The bouzouki was apparently not particularly well-known among the refugees from Asia Minor, but had been known by that name in Greece since at least 1835, from which year a drawing by the Danish artist Martinus Rørbye has survived. It is a view of the studio of the Athens luthier Leonidas Gailas (Λεωνίδας Γάϊλας),"
"bouzouki players may play single note melody instead of harmonizing accompaniment, but in live acoustic sessions with more than two or three players but it is difficult to produce sufficient volume to be heard over drumming and the piercing sound of fiddles and penny whistles. Although not traditional, the Irish bouzouki has found a home in the modern Irish traditional music scene. The Greek bouzouki was introduced to Irish traditional music in the late 1960s by Johnny Moynihan and then popularised by Dónal Lunny, Andy Irvine, and Alec Finn. Today's Irish bouzouki (usually) has four courses of two strings (usually)"
"Irish bouzouki The Irish bouzouki () is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). Johnny Moynihan is credited with bringing the first ""tetrachordo"" (4 courses of strings) Greek bouzouki to Ireland and retuning it to G-D-A-D (in intervals he first used on the mandolin). In the mid-1960s, Moynihan established a presence for the instrument in Irish music with the folk trio Sweeney's Men. Alec Finn, first in the Cana Band and subsequently in De Dannan, introduced the first ""trichordo"" (3 courses of strings) Greek bouzouki into Irish music. In the early 1970s, Andy Irvine gave his Greek bouzouki to"
"even 27 inches (66 to 68 cm). These longer-scaled instruments are generally acknowledged to possess greater volume, sustain, and tonal richness but some players find the stretches involved in fingering too difficult and so prefer shorter scale lengths. Irish bouzouki The Irish bouzouki () is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). Johnny Moynihan is credited with bringing the first ""tetrachordo"" (4 courses of strings) Greek bouzouki to Ireland and retuning it to G-D-A-D (in intervals he first used on the mandolin). In the mid-1960s, Moynihan established a presence for the instrument in Irish music with the folk trio"
"bouzouki playing has a strong emphasis on countermelody. He currently collaborates with his wife Julie Fowlis, playing mainly Scottish Gaelic music and song. The Doorley brothers joined Danú in 1996. Donnchadh Gough, another founding member of the band, plays both bodhran and uillean pipes. He guests on Bodhran with Danú in Ireland and Europe. Amy Richter has performed on Bodhran with Danú during US tours since Dec 2017. Until 2016, the band's lead singer was Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, who replaced earlier singer Ciarán Ó Gealbháin, a tenor who left to finish his education in May 2003, and who had in"
"Alec Finn and Mick Conneely are the only notable players still using a Greek bouzouki, one of the older style ""trixordo"" three course (six string) instruments tuned DAD. A frame drum, usually of bent wood and goatskin, the bodhrán is considered a relatively modern addition to traditional dance music. Some musicologists suggest its use was originally confined to the wrenboys on St. Stephen's Day and other quasi-ritual processions. It was introduced/popularised in the 1960s by Seán Ó Riada (although there are mentions of ""tambourines"" without zils being played as early as the mid 19th century), and quickly became popular. Notable"
"whom the artist describes as ""Fabricatore di bossuchi"". The drawing clearly shows a number of bouzouki-like instruments. Despite this evidence, we still know nothing of the early history of instrument's association with what came to be called rebetiko. Recent research has however uncovered a number of hitherto unknown references to the instrument during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including evidence of its established presence in the Peloponnese. Although known in the rebetiko context, and often referred to in song lyrics, well before it was allowed into the recording studio, the bouzouki was first commercially recorded not in Greece, but"
"the ""tetrachordo"" (""four-course"") has four pairs of strings. The name ""bouzouki"" comes from the Turkish word ""bozuk"", meaning ""broken"" or ""modified"", and comes from a particular re-entrant tuning called ""bozuk düzen"", which was commonly used on its Turkish counterpart, the ""saz-bozuk"". It is in the same instrumental family as the mandolin and the lute. Originally the body was carved from a solid block of wood, similar to the saz, but upon its arrival in Greece in the early 1910s it was modified by the addition of a staved back borrowed from the Neapolitan mandola, and the top angled in the"
"and helped elevate the bouzouki into a truly popular instrument capable of a wide range of musical expression. Recently the three-course bouzouki has gained in popularity. The first recording with the 4-course instrument was made in 1956. The Irish bouzouki, with four courses, a flatter back, and differently tuned from the Greek bouzouki, is a more recent development, stemming from the introduction of the Greek instrument into Irish music by Johnny Moynihan around 1965, and its subsequent adoption by Andy Irvine, Alec Finn, Dónal Lunny, and many others. This is the classic style of bouzouki, introduced around 1900, that was"
"was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of the popular folk group Sweeney's Men. During the recording of their 1968 eponymous album, ""Sweeney's Men"", Andy Irvine also played Moynihan's bouzouki on the track ""Johnston"". Shortly after he returned from Eastern Europe in late 1969, Irvine met Dónal Lunny – who had been playing guitar up to that point – and gave him a Greek bouzouki he had brought back from his travels. Being left-handed, Lunny reversed the strings and critically, replaced the octave strings with unison strings, thus fundamentally changing the character of the instrument."
"Buzuq The buzuq (; also transliterated bozuq, bouzouk, buzuk etc.) is a long-necked fretted lute related to the Greek bouzouki and Turkish saz. It is an essential instrument in the Rahbani repertoire, but it is not classified among the classical instruments of Arab or Turkish music. However, this instrument may be looked upon as a larger and deeper-toned relative of the saz, to which it could be compared in the same way as the viola to the violin in Western music. Before the Rahbanis popularized the use of this instrument, the buzuq had been associated with the music of Lebanon"
"been introduced to the French Caribbean in the late 1800s. In the 21st century in Brazil and the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, ""zouk"" (and its progenitor-band Kassav’) remains very popular. In popular 20th century folk dancing in France, the Polish/classical-piano (see Chopin) ""mazurka"" evolved into ""mazouk"", a dance at a more gentle pace (without the traditional 'hop' step on the 3rd beat), fostering more-intimate dancing and associating mazouk with a “seduction” dance (see also tango from Argentina). This “sexy” style of mazurka has also been imported to “balfolk"" dancing in Belgium and the Netherlands, hence the name ""Belgian Mazurka"" or ""Flemish Mazurka""."
"Byzaanchy The byzaanchy (Tuvan: бызаанчы; Russian: Бизанчи; also transliterated byzanchi or byzanchie) is a four-stringed vertical spike fiddle used in the traditional music of Tuva. It is similar to the Chinese ""sihu"". However, the ""byzaanchy""<nowiki>'</nowiki>s soundbox is generally made of wood whereas the ""sihu"" usually has a metal soundbox. The ""byzaanchy""<nowiki>'</nowiki>s soundbox may be cylindrical or, more rarely, cubical. The instrument's four strings are in courses of two, one of each pair tuned together, to the interval of a fifth. The horsehair bow is divided into two portions of hair. A carved horse's head generally features at the top of"
"particularly popular with musicians who needed an instrument transportable enough to carry around easily or small enough to shelter under a coat. During parts of the 20th century, players of the bouzouki and baglamas were persecuted by the government, and the instruments were smashed by the police. The name comes from Turkish , a similar instrument. Baglamas The baglamas () (plural ""baglamades"") or baglamadaki (), a long necked bowl-lute, is a plucked string instrument used in Greek music; it is a version of the bouzouki pitched an octave higher (nominally D-A-D), with unison pairs on the four highest strings and"
"Yossi Aharon Yossi Aharon () is a musician and virtuoso Greek bouzouki player from Tiberias, Israel. Yossi Aharon began his musical career at age 6 and learned to play mandolin, violin and piano. He showed talent and loved to play classical melodies of popular composers. He studied computing and successfully graduated. During a visit to Greece, he started to learn to play bouzouki. He was influenced by Greek culture and developed a deep affinity for Greek music and Rebetiko. In Israel, He began teaching the instrument. He built a new website called ""The Greek world"" (Hebrew: “Haolam Ha’yevani”) containing information"
"China. It is typically used as a solo instrument, and is often featured in film scores; it is sometimes also heard in popular music recordings. Although the ""bawu"" is still predominantly performed in China, it has in recent years been adopted by European composers and performers. Rohan Leach from England, Raphael De Cock from Belgium, Seán Mac Erlaine from Ireland and Herman Witkam from the Netherlands have all taken the instrument in new directions. The musician Guo Yue, who now resides in England, has long promoted the instrument and plays it on all of his recordings. This type of instrument"
"the Aztecs who brought Europe the song and dance that accompanied the ocarina. The ocarina went on to become popular in European communities as a toy instrument. One of the oldest ocarinas found in Europe is from Runik, Kosovo. The ocarina is a Neolithic flute-like wind instrument and was named Runik Ocarina, the earliest prehistoric musical instrument ever recorded in Kosovo. The modern European ocarina dates back to the 19th century, when Giuseppe Donati from Budrio, a town near Bologna, Italy transformed the ocarina from a toy, which only played a few notes, into a more comprehensive instrument (known as"
"in America, in 1926, when the Peloponnesian musician Konstandinos Kokotis (1878 – after 1948) recorded two Peloponnesian folk songs with the accordionist Ioannis Sfondilias. This recording, reissued for the first time in 2013, reveals a ""folk"" melodic style never recorded before or since. The first recording to feature the instrument clearly in a recognisable somewhat more ""modern"" melodic role, was made in 1929, in New York. Three years later the first true bouzouki solo was recorded by Ioannis Halikias, also in New York, in January 1932. In Greece the bouzouki had been allowed into a studio for the very first"
"on Greek music and culture. The website received thousands of unique users each month. He wrote the book “Kessem Ha’bouzouki” (“The Magic of Bouzouki”), a comprehensive Greek bouzouki method book in Hebrew include Greek musical scales. More than 1000 copies of the book were sold in Israel. His great passion for Greek music and constant visits to Greece caused him to abandon his profession to spend his time in music. In August 2012, he released the album “Melodies From The Heart”, a Greek bouzouki instrumentals album. Yossi Aharon Yossi Aharon () is a musician and virtuoso Greek bouzouki player from"
"developed in Croatia and Serbia by a number of indigenous contributors near the end of the 19th century. There is little reliable data showing how the tamboura entered Central Europe. It already existed during Byzantine Empire, and the Greeks and Slavs used to call ""pandouras"" (see pandoura) or ""tambouras"" the ancestor of modern bouzouki. The instrument was referred to as θαμπούριν, ""thambourin"" in the Byzantine Empire (confer Digenis Akritas, Escorial version, vv. 826-827, ed. and transl. Elizabeth Jeffrey). It is said it was probably brought by the Turks to Bosnia, from where the instrument spread further with migrations of Šokci"
"were Miroslav Kraljević and Bela Čikoš Sesija. Slavonia is a distinct region of Croatia in terms of ethnological factors in traditional music. It is a region where traditional culture is preserved through folklore festivals. Typical traditional music instruments belong to the tamburica and bagpipe family. The tamburica is the most representative musical instrument associated with Slavonia's traditional culture. It developed from music instruments brought by the Ottomans during their rule of Slavonia, becoming an integral part of the traditional music, its use surpassing or even replacing the use of bagpipes and gusle. A distinct form of traditional song, originating in"
"A year or so later, Lunny accompanied Irvine to Peter Abnett's workshop and commissioned a flat-backed instrument with the same specifications as the modified Greek Bouzouki, thus the Irish bouzouki was born. This modified bouzouki became fully integrated into Irish folk music when Irvine and Lunny popularized it with the advent of Planxty in 1972. Irvine, however, credits Moynihan with having ""brought the bouzouki to Ireland"" in his lyric to ""O'Donoghue's"", his memoir of his experience of the early folk revival days in Dublin in the early 60s. In a parallel development, Alec Finn, later with the Galway-based traditional group"
"Bulgari (instrument) The bulgari or boulgari () is a string instrument that originates from Turkey, especially from Anatolia among the Oghuz Turks living in the Taurus Mountains, similar to the bağlama and the çağür., especially to Egypt and Crete. belonging to the 'tampoura' family and closely related to the 'tzoura', it is played with strings plucked with a pick. This long-necked lute first appeared towards the end of the 18th century and became well-known after 1915 through the Greeks of Asia Minor. It was mainly played in Rethimno during the mid-war and owes its popularity to Stelio Foustalieri. It is"
"Today, zouk is the French Antilles compas, also called zouk-love In Africa, Kassav's zouk and the Haitian compas they featured, gained popularity in francophone and lusophone countries. It is also particularly popular in North America in the Canadian province of Quebec. Bouyon (Boo-Yon) is a form of popular music of Dominica, also known as jump up music in Guadeloupe and Martinique. The best-known band in the genre is Windward Caribbean Kulture (WCK), who originated the style in 1988. Over the years, thanks to inter-trade with the Dominicans and the mass participation of Guadeloupe at the World Creole Music Festival, the"
"Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S.. Theodosii Spassov Theodosii Spassov (born 4 March 1961) is a Bulgarian jazz musician who plays kaval. Theodosii Spassov began his early training on the kaval at the Kotel Music School and The Academy of Music and Dance in Plovdiv/Bulgaria. The kaval, an eight-hole wooden ""shepherd"" flute, is one of the oldest Instruments in Europe, rich in tone and technical possibilities. Theodosii Spassov has developed his own unique style of playing the instrument by synthesizing traditional folklore with jazz, fusion and classical music. For over 20 years, Theodosii has toured all over Europe, Asia, the"
"Mazanki The Mazanki is a type of Slavic folk musical instrument that belongs to a group of idiophones or string instruments. They were particularly popular in regions of Poland Greater Poland and in Lubusz Land and usually used along with bagpipes and/or timpani. By the 20th century it was replaced by the violin. The Mazanki is similar in shape to the violin, with the difference that it is smaller and has 3 or 5 strings that are tuned in fourths. The body and the neck are made of one piece of wood, and the soundboard is slightly raised. The bridge"
"Baglamas The baglamas () (plural ""baglamades"") or baglamadaki (), a long necked bowl-lute, is a plucked string instrument used in Greek music; it is a version of the bouzouki pitched an octave higher (nominally D-A-D), with unison pairs on the four highest strings and an octave pair on the lower D. Musically, the baglamas is most often found supporting the bouzouki in the Piraeus city style of rebetiko. The body is often hollowed out from a piece of wood (""skaftos"", construction) or else made from a gourd, but there are also baglamas with staved backs. Its small size made it"
"Papadiamantis. These three men were among 6500 Greek soldiers interned as guests of Germany in an ex-POW camp in the small town of Görlitz at the Polish border, from September 1916 until their release in February 1919. It was not until October 1932, in the wake of the success of Halikias' New York recording, which immediately met with great success in Greece, that Markos Vamvakaris made his first recordings with the bouzouki. These recordings marked the real beginning of the bouzouki's recorded career in Greece, a career which continues unbroken to the present day. The core instruments of rebetiko, from"
"the name is that it comes from the Persian expression tanbur e bozorg, meaning a large tanbur style lute. Buzuq The buzuq (; also transliterated bozuq, bouzouk, buzuk etc.) is a long-necked fretted lute related to the Greek bouzouki and Turkish saz. It is an essential instrument in the Rahbani repertoire, but it is not classified among the classical instruments of Arab or Turkish music. However, this instrument may be looked upon as a larger and deeper-toned relative of the saz, to which it could be compared in the same way as the viola to the violin in Western music."